{"id":8998,"date":"2022-03-01T08:56:21","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T13:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=8998"},"modified":"2022-02-23T16:23:03","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T21:23:03","slug":"march-6-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/march-6-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"March 6, 2022–Right to Serve"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sylvia Alloway, Granada Hills, CA<\/b><\/p>\n

Warm-up Question<\/b><\/h4>\n

Is it ever permissible for citizens to disobey their country\u2019s laws? If so, when and why?<\/p>\n

Right to Serve<\/b><\/h4>\n

It started in Canada. They called it the Freedom Convoy.<\/a> Truckers driving in a convoy (a line of trucks all traveling in the same direction) began a noisy, horn-honking, but originally peaceful protest against the government\u2019s requirement of COVID vaccinations for workers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As time went on the protests became increasingly disruptive: truck blockades in Ottawa, Ontario preventing people from getting to work; obstruction of the main border crossing into the U.S. interrupting deliveries of goods; protestors placing their own children between themselves and the police. Finally, Canadian president Justin Trudeau, for the first time in Canadian history, declared the enforcement of emergency laws that give the government extended powers in a national crisis.<\/p>\n

Other countries joined in. Paris<\/a> police broke up protests on the city\u2019s famous central thoroughfare the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es with tear gas. Officials in Wellington, New Zealand, tried to discourage protestors by playing the music of Barry Manilow.\u00a0 <\/span>Demonstrators countered with Twisted Sister song \u201cWe’re Not Gonna Take It.\u201d<\/p>\n

The protestors claim \u00a0the right not to obey government rules they consider oppressive. But do people have the right to endanger others who want to be protected from disease or disrupt the lives of ordinary citizens to publicize what is probably a lost cause? According to an article<\/a> on the political website Vox (meaning \u201cvoice\u201d), the majority of Canadians say \u201cno.\u201d The protestors, says the article, are a raucous minority, upset because they have lost the anti-vax battle.<\/p>\n

Have these protests been put down completely? Will these difficult examples discourage others from staging legitimate protests? Only time will tell.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/b><\/h4>\n